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What's the difference between Performance and Capacity?

By Gérald Audenis

More server capacity equals better performance, right? This rule is simple and still in use as a substitute for a true capacity management policy in some organizations. Frankly, when IT Operations are facing a booming business demand, there is little time to argue about the difference between performance and capacity and one is always tempted to apply the same old rule and add more capacity. Moreover, it works. Until next time…

Indeed, there is always a turning point when the rule fails. Performance problems appear that can't be solved by adding new capacity, and the accumulation of resources ends up alarming somebody at the C level. It is time to change to a better rule and realize that performance and capacity are not the same.

Different Goals and Scopes

The goal of capacity management is to provide the right resources at the right time for the right price. The focus is on "how many" resources are required and what actions need to be taken. The challenge is to improve resource efficiency without impacting the business.

The goal of performance management, on the other hand, is to monitor the performance of systems, to ensure that service level requirements are met, and to take corrective action if necessary. The focus is on "what" is happening and how it can be improved, e.g. by solving problems and getting rid of bottlenecks that do not necessarily exist due to a lack of capacity.

Strong Interdependencies

The reason why people sometimes find it hard to differentiate one from the other is that capacity and performance management are strongly interdependent:

• Capacity management encompasses capacity planning and performance management.
• Capacity management usually comes after performance management, the first step being to switch on the light, report on resource utilization and provide visibility over costs and risks.
• Performance management and capacity planning teams are usually contributing to a single capacity management process.
• Even capacity planning activities rely on performance management activities and tools as they need regular reports for trend analysis and tracking against their forecasts.

Conclusion

The challenge of capacity management is very often a cultural one. Once resource efficiency has been identified as a key performance indicator, organizations often find it difficult to mature on capacity management and face two opposite risks: Either to start from performance management and fail to give capacity the right position in the management system, or to start from a modeling perspective and fail to connect capacity management with the operations system.

Indeed, capacity management effectiveness depends on an organization’s ability to reconcile the technical world of performance analysts and the management perspective of business plans and capacity models.

Beating Back the Resource Addiction

In our last post on IT resource addiction we examined some of the symptoms and root causes of this industry epidemic.  Today we’d like to explore some of the steps to recovery that we can all take in order to put this crippling addiction behind us once and for all.

The first step to beating any addiction is in admitting that you have a problem, however, when it comes to IT resource addiction, the inability to identify your problem is often the cause behind the compulsion.  Sound confusing?  Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Performance issues are unquestionably the catalyst for resource accumulation.  The industry has been conditioned to associate increased network performance with the addition of bigger, faster, and shinier boxes.  Didn’t get the benefit you were hoping for?  No problems, just add another box and the problem is bound to go away.  Before you know it, you have invested heavily in hardware without realizing anywhere near the performance benefit you expected and you feel trapped.

So what to do?

First: Change your way of thinking.  Increased capacity ≠ increased performance.  Better system architecture and better network management is the way to better performance.  So understand your environment before going on a spending spree.

Second:  Don’t be afraid to admit that a mistake was made.  While not always the most popular approach with IT directors and managers, the ability and flexibility to change course when things aren’t working is critical in breaking the addiction to resources.

Third:  Recognize that it’s sometimes best to start over.  The process of funneling good money after bad can turn a problem scenario into a disaster.  Much like your old car, sometimes the better course of action is to bid it adieu and start over with something new.

Last: Always remember that the simple and easy route can often have long lasting implications in terms of both performance and cost.  It may sound basic, but doing the right thing early on can help you to avoid the resource trap down the road.

Anyone who has ever worked in technology has at one time or another found themselves in a position where the “magic box” solution sounds very appealing.  Just be aware that as with any other vice, just trying it once can lead you down the long dark road of addiction.

 

Are You a Resource-a-holic?

Do you feel the need to be running the latest technology at all times?

Are you typically the first to upgrade to a new platform or version of software?

Have you ever found yourself buying more than you need just because it was a good deal?

Are you incapable of not spending your whole budget on hardware?

Do you spend more time with vendor reps than your own family?

 

If you answered yes to any or all of the questions above, you just might be a resource-a-holic!

Rest assured you are not alone.  Thousands, maybe even millions of resource-a-holics walk among us every day.  They include your IT managers, directors and CIO’s.  Men and women who have been conditioned by the big box companies to feel the need to always buy more, more, more.

Having performance issues?  Buy another box!  Customer service issues with your vendor?  Upgrade your service contract!  This viscous cycle goes round and round and doesn’t ever seem to stop…  Until you run out of budget that is.

Resource addiction in IT environments is near epidemic proportions these days.  The amount of capital directed towards excess is literally crippling company’s abilities to deal with real-time problems.  I stumbled upon a great Q&A with Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra recently, where he talks about government agencies having server utilization of only 6 to 7 percent and they have grown from 432 data centers to some 1100 in the last ten years!  Imagine what projects could be completed if even a portion of those resources were directed elsewhere.

As with any other addiction, admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery.  Of course this isn’t always easy; admitting that you have lost some semblance of control is never a pleasant step to take. But if you truly want to regain the ability to effectively manage your IT environment, it is essential.

Check back with us next week when we’ll offer up some tips for beating your resource addiction and getting your IT center back on track.